Related Summaries

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said a Republican majority could endanger financial reform by limiting funding to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which have an increased enforcement role under the Dodd-Frank Act. Republicans won't be able to repeal the legislation, so underfunding the agencies is their only option, Mr. Frank said.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said a Republican majority could endanger financial reform by limiting funding to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which have an increased enforcement role under the Dodd-Frank Act. Republicans won't be able to repeal the legislation, so underfunding the agencies is their only option, Frank said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., criticized a compromise plan by Senate banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., that would place a proposed consumer-protection agency inside the Federal Reserve. "After all the Fed-bashing we've heard? The Fed's such a weak engine, so let's give them consumer protection? It's almost a bad joke," Frank said. Dodd's proposal was greeted with skepticism from other Democrats as well.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he expects Northern Trust and U.S. Bancorp to repay money they received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Frank said the two banks received $8.2 billion in rescue fund money, but he did not provide a time frame for the repayment. "The public has the right, for us, to be very tough on how recipients of TARP money spend it," Mr. Frank said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Congress may halve the $700 billion rescue plan if banks use the money for bonuses, dividends and other spending not related to making loans. "If people [in Congress] don't see it going for loans, there's going to be a revolt," Mr. Frank said. Many lawmakers have been upset that the rescue plan has not gone directly into easing tight credit markets.